Yay for procrastinating!

My mother helped me move into my condo last June, and she's coming for her first visit since then in the middle of May.  In order to feel like I've actually lived her for a year, and accomplished something in that time, I've finally decided to buy the rug and chair that will complete my family room/living area.  

These are pieces I've been thinking of buying for months, and feeling guilty that I haven't just gotten on the phone, or online, and bought them already!  Well, imagine my surprise and glee at having my procrastination rewarded; I went online today and both items were on sale!  Even with the gross shipping costs, they still each cost less than they had at the original prices.  That's American consumerism at its best, and once again proves my theory that, in this great country of ours, you never have to pay full price for anything.  Behold, my new chair that is being made for me right now at a bargain price.

This week is vacation for all of my students.  This means easier schedule for me, but also more surprises at a lot of homes.  Relatives are visiting - I have grandparents in the room listening to me berate little children when they play a wrong note.  Another interesting visitor I had today was a cousin's dog that two of my students are caring for over the week.  This little dog is definitely going through something and kept attempting to hump my leg for the hour I was at their house.  I have never experienced this before, thank goodness, but had no idea how to tastefully deal with it while impressionable children were in the room.  Luckily, nothing really came of it.

Easter Eggs

I hosted a little easter egg dying party this past weekend, mostly because I wanted an excuse to try out many different egg-decorating ideas.  Many of them inspired by Martha, of course.  

I tried blowing out my eggs this year; last year I only hard-boiled, then made some beautiful decoupaged eggs that I was super bummed I had to throw out.  The whole blowing-out process is not something I was prepared for and I must assure you it is not for the faint-hearted.  I started out with 11 eggs, and "successfully" ble

w out 5.  (The other 6 either cracked when I was making holes in them, or I blew so hard that they exploded - not pretty.)  The next morning I found that I had not managed to fully blow out one egg, which had leaked into the egg carton overnight, and was then stuck and I broke it.  So I was down to 4 eggs, but I was going to make them the best decoupaged eggs I could manage.

Of course, I supplemented with hard boiled eggs, and a fine time was had by all.  My favorite eggs, though, are actually the styrofoam ones that I covered with origami paper, so little note-to-self there.  Next year I'll be trying for 5 successfully blown out eggs.  

New Year's Resolutions

                                                 
So of course the big one is to lose weight, blah blah blah.  But in our attention-deficient society, we like to see results today, so here's what happened with my other big resolution: to get my and nate's closets organized and finally unpack all my clothes from when we moved back in June.

Sorry the picture quality isn't the best, but I wanted to paste the pictures together rather than having to post 6 different pictures here.  Yes, those are my sweaters in the bookcase on the left.  Before you have a cow, please note that I used to have about twice as many. 

                

today I was just starting to drive across the train tracks when the lights started flashing and then the bar thingies came down.  It was exhilarating! (well, once I was off the train tracks)

the best gifts

I read in a magazine that the gift most popular with teachers is a handwritten thank you note. Well, they didn't poll me when they wrote that article! I personally think gift cards are just fine, though my favorite gifts have been handmade gifts, like that ornament I wrote about before. This year's best gift contender: a dish towel with "Heather's Kitchen" monogrammed on it, from a mother who has a monogramming business. In addition to that gift, the same family gave me some nicely decorated christmas cookies. My student's little brother saw me leaving the house with a box of cookies and said "are those cookies?!" He was not pleased about any more cookies leaving the house than necessary. Somebody give that boy a cookie!